


"Your circuit's dead; there's something wrong"

by caitastrophe8499



Series: Lost in Streams of Sound [4]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: David Bowie - Freeform, F/M, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 12:38:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12582080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caitastrophe8499/pseuds/caitastrophe8499
Summary: Series Title: Lost in Streams of SoundLyrics from “Space Oddity”, by David Bowie.





	"Your circuit's dead; there's something wrong"

**Author's Note:**

> Series Title: Lost in Streams of Sound  
> Lyrics from “Space Oddity”, by David Bowie.

 

Sara’s head pounded as she woke up, smoke billowing in the cockpit of the jump ship and alarms blasting from all corners. Ears ringing, she could discern a faint voice amid the panicked noises from the ship. She gripped the arm of the chair and hauled herself up off the floor and into the seat.

_ “...-in, Sara. Come in. Are you still alive?” _

She reached for the headset, but before she could answer, a bout of coughing interrupted her breathing. Another voice cut into the communications.

_ “Don’t make me come out there, assassin. Come in.” _

“I’m here,” she responded, repeating it again when her voice was too shaky to be read. “I’m here.”

_ “What happened?” _ Leonard asked.

Sara looked around, the controls sparking and blinking rapidly. “Dunno. I’m in the timestream. Did you get the scientist?”

Their mission had been fairly simple, a grab and drop back from the future into the appropriate time period. But while Sara and the jump ship had been the distraction, the future tech had blasted her engines as she tried to get into the timestream.

_ “We got him, he was injured in the flight. Stein’s with him. Palmer’s running diagnostics on your ship. We’re back in 1983. Can you land?” _

She punched in a landing zone - 2016, their usual go-to. However, nothing happened. No beeping, no landing, and no Gideon.

_ “Sara,” _ Ray’s voice came over the comm.  _ “Your circuit’s dead; there’s something wrong.” _

“Can you lock onto the communications?” Sara asked.

His silence was answer enough.

“Right,” she said. “Okay. Get the man on his feet and back where he should be. Then we’ll deal with this.”

_ “Sara,” _ Ray started.

“That’s an order.”

Silence.

Leonard spoke next.  _ “Not happening.” _

“Snart-”

_ “Lance. We’re not leaving anyone behind.” _

“This isn’t leaving me behind,” she argued. “It’s finishing one mission before starting on another. Get him back, then you can spend however long you’d like looking for me. But if we don’t get him back, the aberration will start to solidify.” When he didn’t respond immediately, she knew she’d struck a nerve, so she continued after it. “I’ve got enough for 5 days here. Emergency rations and everything. Time moves strangely in the temporal zone anyway. Could be longer. Jax and Ray can talk me through repairing the locator.”

_ “I don’t like this.” _

“You don’t have to. But it needs to be done.”

For a long moment, there was no answer. Then the crook heaved a sigh,  _ “Fine.” _

“Good. Get to work, while Jax and Ray talk me through fixing this.”

_ “Right away, Captain.” _

* * *

“Ouch!” Sara swore as the wires shocked her yet again.

“ _ Careful _ ,” Jax said, somewhat belatedly, in Sara’s opinion.

“Got it,” she muttered. The control panel was a mess of wires and slap-shod electrical work, but Ray and Jax both sounded quite confident when giving her instructions. Though a little long-winded, their orders were precise and accurate.

She finished stripping the wire and sat back on her heels, trying to ignore her dry throat. “What next?”

The silence on the other end wasn’t exactly reassuring. “Guys?”

“ _ Sara _ ,” Ray started,  _ “the last wire we need is the communications wire. It should give us the boost we need to lock onto your signal.” _

“Should,” she repeated quietly. “And if it doesn’t?”

Jax stepped in.  _ “Then you’ll be without communications and no way for us to find you.” _

She looked over at the dwindling supplies she had left. Maybe a half-day’s left of water. Two days of food. Who knew how much oxygen. “But if I don’t, you definitely won’t.”

_ “Right.” _

She inhaled deeply. “Okay. What will I need to do?”

_ “Open the communications panel beneath the console. There should be a set of four wires,” _ Ray said.

Sara did as he said, seeing two tightly entwined blue and white wires and two loose red ones. “Got it.”

_ “Remember the blue and yellow wires we put together for the location?” _

Sara looked above, the aforementioned wires resting on the metal above her. “Yeah.”

_ “Go back to where the blue one’s connected and pull out the red panel.” _

Sara followed the instructions given to her, exposing two more panels and connecting wires between them before they brought her back to the communications ones.

_ “Now, don’t do it yet, but you’re going to cut the yellow and blue wires, then connect them back to the main console, where we just were. The ship will probably get a little bumpy for a moment, but it should even out. And we’ll be there in moments.” _

“Okay.” She stared at the wires, her only lifeline to her team and to her ship, the cutters in her hand. There wasn’t a choice. Really. She would die within a few days without water and she didn’t think her chances with the air were any good. This was the only option. “Okay. Guess I’ll see you in a bit.”

“ _ Sara _ ,” Ray said quietly. _ “If you want to say anything…” _

This could be her only chance to do so. “Tell the crook - tell Len - that I…” she trailed off, unsure of what she actually wanted to say. That she wished they had more time? That she wished she hadn’t waited so long after his return? That he was her best friend? There was too much to say after going so long unsaid. She smiled tightly, knowing no one would see her.  “Oh, he knows.”

She cut the wire and it was silent. Attaching it exactly as Jax said to, she expected the jumpship to lurch.

Sara wasn’t expecting the console to burst into flames.

“Shit!” she shouted, grabbing the fire extinguisher. She coated the fire, but there were still a few sparks shooting up here and there.

Coughing, she sank to the ground, ignoring the smoke overhead. The jumpship started lurching, knocking her to the side. With a painful crack, her skull connected with the metal paneling. She tried to get up, but her head was pounding, the smoke was choking her lungs, and her vision began to swim.

But it was okay, because they’d be there in just a few moments. That’s what they said. Just a few moments.

Forcing herself to remain conscious, Sara counted in her head.

1-2-3

She blinked away the spots, taking a small sip of her water, ignoring the way her throat ached for more. Closing the bottle tightly, she put it off to the side. Just in case, she told herself.

In case of what? If they didn’t find her, she was dead already.

100-101-104

Or was she on 103? Losing count, she started from 100 again. The smoke didn’t seem to be clearing. The fire must have taken out what was left of her automated systems. Her heart was beginning to pound a little faster, making it even harder to breathe. Or perhaps it was the lack of oxygen.

300-301-302

Just a few moments.

Sara rested her head on the floor, the pounding starting to ease away, but she couldn’t seem to draw in a full breath. But it was okay. Just a few moments.

400...401...40…40...40

She closed her eyes. At least it wasn’t another gunshot.

* * *

Sara woke slowly, her head aching, but dully. Remembering the precarious setting in which she fell asleep, she sat up quickly. Her vision swum and dipped as she reached out for something to hold onto, white and silver and blue melding together in an unrecognizable blur. Her left hand hit metal, but her right made contact with something warm and living. She flinched away, but almost immediately calmed down when she heard a familiar voice through her aching, buzzing brain.

“Relax, birdy. Just me.”

“Wh-wha-” her voice came out choked and cracked, making her cough violently.

“Here.” A cold glass was pressed into her hands. “Drink this and take a breath. Everything’s fine. You’re okay.”

Sara inhaled through her nose and closed her eyes, calming her heart rate now that she knew she was safe. She sipped at the water without opening her eyes until the room felt more stable.

Finally, she opened her eyes to solid, still images. The headache was still there and her throat still hurt, and now she could also feel a faint ache on her ribs. But she was alive, which was more than she had anticipated. She was in the Med Bay, in one of the ever so uncomfortable chairs. A blanket was draped over her legs and her arm was hooked up to an IV.

Leonard was sitting off to the side of her bed, his coat over the back of his chair. He looked tired, the shadows under his eyes making the blue pop even more. The perpetual shadows of stubble seemed darker and his clothes weren’t his typical pristine style, instead wrinkled. She drained the glass as she looked over him.

“What happened?” she asked, still raspy, but intelligible.

He held out his hand for the glass and refilled it at the sink. “Palmer and the kid’s hack job had the unintended side effect of making the console implode. We got a momentary blip off of where you were, but by the time we got there, the jumpship was gone.” He turned back around, handing her the full glass. “Took us a little while to find you.”

“Everyone’s okay?” she asked, taking the glass. She drank half of it, finally starting to feel a little more like herself.

“Only you got hit on this one, birdy.” He took his seat again. “You’ve been unconscious for a little over a day.”

“And the ship hasn’t exploded yet?” Sara asked, trying to smile. “A miracle.”

The corner of his mouth lifted briefly, but fell again almost immediately.

“Are you okay?”

He scoffed quietly. “Says the one in the hospital bed.”

She made to get out of it, but he held up his hand, “Don’t try to make a point. I get it.”

“Then answer me.”

“I’m fine.”

“Gideon?”

Leonard snapped up at that, opening his mouth to rescind the command, but the AI responded quickly, almost as if she’d been waiting to speak. _ “Mr. Snart has not slept is 38.6 hours and has not eaten anything in over fifteen hours. He suffered minor burns and some smoke inhalation and removed himself from the IVs before the recommended time period had elapsed.” _

Sara arched a brow at the thief, who appeared annoyed, but not embarrased. “Traitor,” he muttered at the ceiling.

She couldn’t blame him from taking out the IV. She’d only been awake a few minutes and already wanted it gone. So instead, she asked, “Why weren’t you sleeping?”

Leonard didn’t answer for a long moment, but stared at her instead. Her League training had made it so Sara had almost complete control over her physical reactions, so her cheeks didn’t burn the way they wanted to under his scrutiny, but it was close.

“You weren’t breathing. When we got there, you weren’t-” he broke off and started again. “I thought we were too late.”

“I’m fine, Len.”

_ “Mr. Snart had to perform CPR in order to get you to breathe. Even after it was suggested that it was too late, he persisted in-” _

“Thank you, Gideon,” Leonard cut in, his voice curt. The AI fell silent.

While Sara and Leonard had been getting closer since his return, neither one of them had taken that last step towards anything other than close friendship. She would deny up and down that she was afraid to, but it was the truth. Leonard was her best friend and though she didn’t want to screw it up, she was getting tired of dancing around.

“CPR explains why my ribs hurt,” Sara said, deflecting just a bit from the awkwardness Gideon’s information had created.

“Bruising only. Had a nasty cut on your head, but Gideon was monitoring for concussion. Some smoke inhalation, burns, and dehydration.”

“Not bad, all things considered.”

Again, that quick lift of his lips, like he contemplated smiling but thought better of it.

“Thanks for saving me. Kiss of Life and all that,” she said, smiling.

He took a sudden and particular interest in her IV. “Seemed only fair, turnabout being what it is.”

With that opening, how could she resist? “Maybe next time we could do that when neither one of us are on death’s door.”

His fingers paused briefly on the tubing. “Next time,” he repeated.

Sara wasn’t sure if that was a question or a promise, so she hoped for the latter and relaxed in her chair. Despite having slept for over a day, she was still feeling exhausted. “How long do I have to stay here?”

_ “At least another 24 hours are recommended.” _

“I’ll give you until I wake up again.”

She almost swore she heard Gideon sigh.  _ “I suppose that will have to do.” _

Sara glanced at Leonard, still sitting next to her. “Get some sleep, crook. I’ll still be here when you wake up.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He picked up his coat and headed to the door. “Sleep well, Captain.”

“And you, Captain.”

* * *

Sara only managed to sleep another four hours before the  _ Waverider  _ was hit by a wave of aberrations. The team went for another sixteen, then had to deal with repairing the Waverider before they fell out of the timestream. By the time they were able to go to sleep, Sara was done with the Med Bay chairs and headed straight for her room, dead on her feet. Leonard and Mick were in step next to her.

“Let’s not do that again anytime soon,” Mick grumbled.

“‘Cause that’s our luck,” Sara muttered.

Mick grunted, then peeled off to head to his room. Leonard continued in silence all the way to Sara’s door.

“Holding up okay?” he asked.

She smiled, “Just tired. Nothing serious.”

“Not on death’s door?”

She smiled, “I think I’ll pull through.”

“Good.” He still had the bags under his eyes, but he seemed much more alert than he had in the Med Bay. “In that case-”

He put his fingers under her chin, tilting her face up to make up for the difference in height. Slowly, he leaned down to her, allowing her every chance to pull away if she wanted to.

Which she did not.

Leonard pressed his lips against hers, chaste and gentle, pulling away before either of them could really sink into it. Sara, not realizing she’d closed her eyes, opened them to see him still very close, blue eyes dancing as he stared down at her.

“Better or worse than when on death’s door?” he asked quietly.

Sara hummed, “Not sure. We’re going to have to keep trying.”

His lips turned up in a genuine smile. “Practice and all that.”

“Exactly.”

She wasn’t certain what would have happened next, if he would have kissed her again, or if she would have invited him into her room - what did happen is that a massive yawn escaped her and she leaned back to cover her mouth.

Leonard chuckled lowly. “Get some sleep, birdy.”

“We’ll pick this up again tomorrow,” she promised.

“I’ll hold you to it.”

She didn’t mind the sound of that.

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
